• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, June 16, 2003

High Quality Customer Service in Spanish Crucial to Hispanic Retention

According to the national study "Customer Service Impact on Consumer Choice, Loyalty, Brand Reputation and Sustainable Growth" by The Santiago Solutions Group and Hispanic Teleservices Corporation, Hispanic loyalty is fragile as this segment places enormous weight on the consistent delivery of high quality customer support in Spanish.

The survey indicates that high quality customer service in Spanish/fully Bilingual is significantly more important than retail location, awareness of Spanish advertising, Hispanic community support and recommendations by family and friends when selecting and continuing to do business with a banking, insurance, credit card, or telecom provider.

Carlos Santiago, president of The Santiago Solutions Group said, "Quality in-language in-culture customer experience is a crucial component of a well integrated multicultural initiative designed to win and retain Hispanic consumers because through it, the brand promise comes face-to-face with customers."

Nine in ten Hispanics stated that a positive customer service experience influences their decision to continue doing business with a given service brand. Also, Hispanic consumers are strong brand advocates and influential with other potential customers. Positive word-of-mouth is common practice as six in ten of Hispanics with a positive customer service experience tell an average of seven family members and friends.

And, sixty percent of unsatisfactory customer service experiences lead to considerations to change service providers. One in three Hispanic customers that went through an unpleasant wireless customer service experience, claimed to have changed service provider. In addition, about half of Hispanics experiencing a negative customer contact tell an average of five friends and family members about this upsetting events.

"The reason that many companies have failed to establish the appropriate solution," according to Kit Cooper of Hispanic Teleservices Corporation, "is that many U.S. companies face significant quality and scalability challenges implementing a robust bilingual customer service strategy in the U.S. labor market."

You can find out more here.